I reference this organization:
http://www.karaokeantipiracyagency.com/faq.html
This is the part I am not sure about
:
If I buy a hard drive system that has pre-loaded songs, can I legally play these songs?
ADMIN: There are several companies that license the use of their products on computers or machines with a hard drive. It is certainly legal to play any of these licensed products.
If I own my own discs, can I load them onto a hard drive to play them in a show, etc.?
ADMIN: Yes, you MAY load songs from discs you buy onto your hard drive. Copying the discs on to a hard drive is the same as copying the discs, which CDG discs are legally rated as SOFTWARE, and the US Supreme Court has ruled, and the anti-piracy organization you were intimidated by knows this, that the owner of a software disc has the legal right to make a backup copy. You do NOT need written permission of the company that produced the discs to backup the product you own.
What companies license their music for play on a hard drive? Currently I only find Music Maestro, Top Hits Monthly, DKK Millennium, and Chartbuster have licensing agreements with any hard drive player manufacturers.
ADMIN: The licensing you are talking about here is a license to DISTRIBUTE the songs on a hard drive, not on CDG media. However, from your prior question, if you own the discs, you can load them to a hard drive and play them, in private. To legally perform them in public, you must pay the BMI/ASCAP performance royalties. That is the only legal restrictions to play songs from a hard drive. There are dealers who provide songs imported to the hard drive ONLY when they also sell and ship the CDG discs containing those songs along with the system. This simply saves the end user time from importing what they have the legal right to do.
So is it legal to copy to the hoster or not?
ADMIN: We have spent over a quarter-million dollars developing our software. Before making this investment, we carefully searched the Copyright laws and find no indication anywhere that a CDG disc is rated a "Phonorecord" as some try to claim.
We have called the Copyright office several times and asked them (latest was 10/23/03) and they clearly state "Phonorecords are vinyl discs with the audio recorded in groves in the media. CD or CDG discs have never been classsed as Phonorecords."
Quote from the KAPA site (10/23/03): "However, music (including Karaoke CDGs) is part of the "Phonorecord" class of copyrighted materials. Archive copies are not permitted in this class. So, no, you may not make an archive copy of your Karaoke discs."
Now, would you believe the Copyright office employee or a web page in direct opposition, that is maintained by an organization entirely owned, run and managed by Sound Choice? Your call, but as for me, I trust the Copyright Office.
We further asked (10/23/03):
Is it legal for us to sell software that allows a digital transfer of the data on the CDROM to computer for use instead of the original? Answer: Using in a lawful manner is OK, unlawful is not OK. Public performance royalties need to be paid if multiple monitors are displaying the graphics to the public.
The USA copyright laws clearly states what the penalties are for copyright infringement. These financial penalties are very clearly stated for violators. There is absolutely nothing in any form of a penalty or statement of violation for a legal owner of a copyrighted work making a backup copy of that work.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that any CD disc is considered "software", and software discs can be backed up by the owner without any written authorization from the copyright holder.
To my knowledge, there was a court case in the north-west USA where KAPA/Sound Choice took a host to court because she was using a backup copy in her show, of one of her purchased master discs. She still had the master. From what I have heard from 2 sources, the Judge in this case harshly confronted Sound Choice, stating that in their own publications they call their products "software", and the Supreme Court has ruled it is legal to make backup copies of software CDs. The case was thrown out of court.
Don't be misled by intimidating statements made by vendors whose sole purpose is to scare you into paying them more money than others charge, to create a false monopoly through intimidation, or to discredit competitors.
Numerious individuals and organizations have asked the anti-piracy organization for the US legal statutes that uphold their intimidation claims. NEVER ONCE have they produced one shread of evidence. It is clearly intimidation and it is time the industry recognize it for what it is!
Read
this Thread page 5 for my (Admin) challenge to them over a year ago.
ADMIN
Faye